


One Thing Leads To Another

by mandeebobandee



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Nuclear Warfare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 14:38:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15221351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandeebobandee/pseuds/mandeebobandee
Summary: Alfred has a series of nightmares about the one of his biggest fears.





	One Thing Leads To Another

**Author's Note:**

> Please read with caution (..I feel like most of my work should come with this warning, admittedly). This will contain ample mention of nuclear war itself as well as the fear of it, and there are some gory depictions within this. Also note that this is written as a nightmare of Alfred's..

_Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands._

 

"It needed to be done, Alfred. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. You were all for this, remember?"

"Did it really, though? I know we needed to stop Japan, but something like this..."

"You gave the okay. You said you wanted this."

"That was before I knew the kind of damage it would cause, Harry! This...this is capable of ending the world as we know it! If it got into the wrong hands..."

"It won't get into the wrong hands, Alfred. This makes you the most powerful country in the world. No one will mess with you now. Isn't that a good thing?"

\------------------------------------

 

_There was a turtle by the name of Bert, and Bert the Turtle is very alert!_

 

It got into the wrong hands.

Only three years passed between Alfred's conversation with President Truman and the Soviets' first nuclear test. Now the world was on edge. Children were learning how to 'duck and cover' in school, under the fear that at any moment a bright flash of light might end the world as they knew it. Alfred was not immune to this. He was in the process of working on a bomb shelter located just beneath his home.

Alfred could only hope that conditions were similar on the other side of the world. He could only hope that Ivan was more sane than he gave him credit for. Only their relative sanity kept away the threat of total annihilation.

\------------------------------------

 

_Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!_

 

There were missiles in Cuba. There were missiles in Cuba and they were all going to die.

No, that wasn't right. Ivan had missiles in Cuba, but Alfred had missiles in Turkey and Italy. They were both infringing on each other's territory, and neither of them wanted to let up for fear that the other wouldn't hold up to their end of the bargain. They were at a standstill, a stalemate, and if neither of them backed down there was a high chance that some of those missiles might be put to use.

The man in the cab on the way to the meeting told him not to worry about how his meeting would go. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

Ah, ignorance is bliss. Too bad Alfred lost that luxury in 1945.

 

\------------------------------------

 

_A strange game. The only winning move is not to play._

 

They called it mutually assured destruction. It had a fitting little acronym too, MAD. It would be MAD to consider this option a viable option. Only a MADman would push the buttons without a second thought.

It was an effective deterrent for a while. There were a few close calls, but that was all they were - close calls. The world would breathe a collective sigh of relief, and life would go on.

\------------------------------------

 

_It's Christmas at ground zero, there's panic in the crowd. While we dodge debris let's trim the tree underneath the mushroom cloud._

 

Another nightmare. Alfred was plagued by them, especially when tensions rose. So many were under the impression that Alfred's biggest fear was ghosts. Alfred played into this impression himself. It was better than letting the knowledge of his true worst fear fall into the wrong hands. The nightmares usually panned out the same way - a flurry of activity, followed by destruction and desolation that he was helpless to prevent.

He'd told one other about this aspect of his dream, a man that he considered to be his father figure even though he'd declared his independence over two hundred years before.

No one but Alfred knew the most haunting aspect of the dream.

No one but Alfred knew that he was the one who drew the first strike.

\------------------------------------

 

_I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars..._

 

Alfred ran. He was out of breath, but he needed to get to his destination. He threw open the doors to the control room so hard that a visible crack appeared on the wall.

"What took you so long, hero boy? Rescuing a cat from a tree?"

Alfred narrowed his eyes. The figure that spoke had his back to him, facing a large computer screen. The figure, a man judging by the sound of his voice, was obscured by a tall chair. The voice sounded familiar but Alfred couldn't quite place it.

"Why are you doing this? Who gave you permission to be here?"

A low chuckle came from the other side of the chair. "To answer your first question, I'm doing this because I can...and a little bit for revenge. Your second question? Well, nobody really, but that doesn't matter because I don't need anyone's permission to go anywhere."

Alfred let out a derisive snort at that statement. "Because you can? What kind of excuse is that for doing something so monstrous?"

"If we're playing twenty questions, let me ask you this - If you're supposed to be the hero, the savior of the world, why do you cling so tightly to the ability to destroy it several times over?"

"I...what?" 

Another chuckle. "You heard me, Superman. You claim it's to protect yourself, but you lie. Well, maybe not all the way, but you like the power it gives you, don't you? You like being on top of the world. You don't want anyone to take that away, even if you know that power is so dangerous it could destroy millions, possibly even billions of lives. Because that power makes you feel good. It's intoxicating, isn't it?"

Alfred shuddered, his hands clenched into a fist, yet he did not dare act. He couldn't, not when the words so correctly described everything. He did wonder something, however...

"How..." How did he know all of this? "Who are you?"

The chair turned at this, revealing the man who sat within. Alfred held his hand to his mouth, certain that he was going to vomit or scream - or both. 

It was like looking into a mirror.

His doppelganger rose to his feet. "It's time to wake up, Alfred."

"What?"

"Wake up!"

Alfred woke up. He awoke to the sound of screams and the sight of faces melting, of mushrooms in the sky. His own blood-curdling screams in the background.

**Author's Note:**

> The quotes/lyrics within this fic can be attributed thusly -
> 
> "Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands." - J. Robert Oppenheimer
> 
> "There was a turtle by the name of Bert, and Bert the Turtle is very alert!" - Duck and Cover, a civil defense film that they showed schoolchildren in the 50s to prepare them for possible nuclear annihilation. Because that's always fun 
> 
> "Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!" - Dr. Strangelove, in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
> 
> "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." - Joshua, in WarGames
> 
> "It's Christmas at ground zero, there's panic in the crowd. While we dodge debris let's trim the tree underneath the mushroom cloud." - Weird Al Yankovic, "Christmas At Ground Zero"
> 
> "I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars." - Flobots, "Handlebars"


End file.
